Scars
by The-Clinically-Insane
Summary: Sakura has lost everything and everyone she's ever cared about, was turned into a heartless, cold machine and is perfect for this latest mission... How personal is 'to personal' and how far will she go to complete her task?
1. Chapter 1

Scars

Chapter 1

The-clinically-Insane

* * *

"_Hello?" The pink haired medic pressed her ear piece in deeper to catch the distant voice calling through her static filled headset. _

"_Sakura? Just the girl I was looking for… Where are you?"_

"_Um, about a mile north of camp. Why?" She instantly recognized the labored voice as it came through in a more concentrated form and the words became understandable._

"_I think we need to talk."_

_She swallowed thickly at the warning tone in his voice, immediately worried that something had gone wrong. "About?"_

_He paused for a moment before answering. "Do you love me?"_

_Now Sakura ran a hand through her hair, wondering why he would ask her that question. He didn't sound like he was in pain so she assumed he hadn't been injured. "Well, of course, but… what's going on?"_

"_How much do you love me? I'm not joking."_

_She licked her lips, smiling at his reminder, as if she always thought he was playing around. "I love you to death." She stated bluntly, almost sarcastically. "Now tell me what the _hell_ is going on."_

Another drawn out pause, his heavy breaths filling the silence and letting her know that he was still alive. "Nothing's going on. I just wanted to hear you say it, that's all. I love you too, by the way. Never forget that."

"_What happened to not joking? You're starting to scare me." Sakura slowed her sprint back to camp and covered both of her ears up with her hands to block out all sound except his voice._

"_Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to. I just wanted you to know… I wish things had turned out differently. You could have been happy with me, you know."_

"_I am happy."_

_His dry, humorless laugh echoed in her head and she almost winced at the fake sound. "No, Sakura, no you're not. He was your life then, and still is now. I'm catching up to you, stop and wait for me."_

* * *

Sakura stared up at the misty sky through unseeing eyes, as she distantly listened to what the Hokage, her Shishou, was saying.

"…Died saving someone he loved… to death."

Sakura blinked pitifully against the harsh reminder of some of her last words to Naruto. She didn't quite understand why she wasn't breaking down right now but took it as a blessing as she tried to blend in with the rest of the shinobi attending the memorial.

"He was returning from a simple border patrol along with Haruno Sakura when a rouge attacked them, and he jumped between the rouge and his teammate. The rouges attack killed him instantly, but the medic assigned to his team was able to avenge his death…"

Sakura stopped listening. This version made her seem much more… noble, and she almost wanted to scream out in anger that she hadn't even realized that she was under attack until the last second, when Naruto's lifeless body had slumped gently against her back. Wanted to point out that he had given her everything he ever possibly could and more, and in return, the most she could do was _accidentally _kill his murderer in an uncontrollable violent urge for revenge. An urge she didn't think through until afterwards, but one she didn't regret any less.

"_Naruto! Oh Kami no!"_

_She spun around as his weight hit her back silently and she dropped to her knees, cradling his head in her lap. She checked his pulse with quick precision, but when she couldn't find it, pressed two fingers all along the vein in his throat, hoping to find some sort of indication that he was alive. She found none._

"_You- you're…can't be… d-dead…?" In a flash she suddenly understood everything, from his confession of love, to wanting to hear the same from her. Naruto had seen the attack coming and had jumped in the way just in time to save her. He gave his life for her, had time to think it through, and still made a conscious decision to do so, and wanted her to know that he loved her with all his heart, even if she could never return the favor. To this day she could never figure out why he didn't just warn her that she was about to be attaked._

_That small fact -that he gave it all up for her- just made it so much worse. _

_As she sniffed, holding back her tears but never once stopping the flow of green chakra into his lifeless body, cheap and hollow laughter rang through the forest, and she remembered the presence of Naruto's killer and stood to face him, a glowing hand still resting on Naruto's chest._

"_Who the hell do you think you are!?" She hissed venomously, wishing for all the world that she were dead at that moment, in Naruto's place. Because he was her best friend, and she was just starting to feel the affects of his love, of what they could have been together… if she had, for one moment, just forgotten about Sasuke._

_He just laughed more, the sound bordering on hysterical and insane and echoing against his reflective steel mask. "Who do I _think_ I am? Kunoichi, I know exactly who I am."_

_She gasped as she recognized the voice, and it gripped her with fear, hatred and anger… something she would have never believed that sound particularly capable of. _

"_And your cause is hopeless. It's only putting more strain on you, and once you waste enough of your chakra on that worthless dobe, I _will_ make his sacrifice be in vain."_

_Sakura growled and with inhuman speed that she had acquired form training with Lee, was on the last Uchiha, her fist burying itself into his stomach, wrist deep in his flesh. The power behind the blow ripped through his skin._

"_How _dare _you!" She screeched out in anger and uncontrolled emotion...it was distinctly hateful and her powerful rage blurred her vision. With malice she never knew she possessed she growled out her affliction in words almost impossible to understand: "I _**hate** _you! How could you kill him? He was _all_ I had left!"_

_With her chakra infused hands she was able to slice open everything she could reach as she pounded him into the ground, tearing his unresponsive body apart._

_He didn't even have a chance to be surprised before his life slowly bled away on the ground._

_Sasuke… I've finally learned that my obsession with you was purely out of habit. I've finally realized that it was Naruto I loved all along, and no longer you. _

_I hate you… _

* * *

"C' mon, _Sakura!_" Kiba whined desperately, ignoring all the annoyed stairs the villagers gave him.

Sakura blinked and looked up at him with empty eyes. "What?"

"You know what! You're too slow! You aren't going to be able to save him if you don't get your ass moving!" He complained as he grabbed her wrist and began to drag her toward the hospital. She just rolled her eyes, trusting the medics on duty, the ones _she_ trained, to be able to keep Shino alive just as well as she could.

"Kami, you lifeless lump! You've been like this for a year already, just get _over_ it and start doing your job!"

Sakura froze, and stared at Kiba in shock, not even noticing the insistent pull on her wrist. Slowly, she turned away from him, easily breaking his weak hold – in comparison to her strength – and shaking her head as she began to walk away.

"What?! No, Sakura, I didn't mean it, please come back! He'll die without your help!"

Sakura just pursed her lips. "Yes you did mean it, no you are not sorry, and I have full confidence in my medics abilities, even if you don't. Get out of my sight Inuzuka."

Kiba groaned, but otherwise remained speechless, staring after her as she walked away.

* * *

"You wanted me, m' lady?"

"Hm? Oh, right." Tsunade easily set aside her 'oh-so-important' paperwork and directed her attention to her former apprentice. "I wanted to discuss the possibility of you joining in on a… murder of sorts. I've always wanted to know how important someone has to be before their murder is considered an assassination, but this would be a case where I wouldn't dare question it. We have a tight location on an Atatsuki member, and I want him dead, as soon and as cleanly as possible."

Sakura blinked her large empty green eyes and nodded her head that she understood. "Hai, Tsunade-shishou."

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "I'm worried about you Sakura… Which is why I think you should take a break from normal ANBU duties. This mission will be undercover, and could last anywhere from a year to five. Do you have any attachments in this village?"

"None but the village itself."

Tsunade sighed again and reached up to press the heel of her hands into her eyes. "That's what I thought," she said, laughing bitterly. "You're ruined, and I want you to have a break. You will be doing this as a team, and you are to do everything in your power _not _to blow your cover. And _you_ won't kill him. I'll have an assassin assigned to your team, and only he will do it, understood?"

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou."

"Alright, Shizune, I request that you do something, _anything_, with the girl's hair. Much too obvious… and her tattoo's as well, I think. Sakura, I want you to start eating healthier so you'll gain a little weight, you look like you're starving, and you really need to get a tan. Dismissed, for now."

_

* * *

_

Sakura,

_I really hope everything's going okay down there. Kakashi actually seems worried about you, he keeps coming in the flower shop to ask how you're doing. You need to come out unscathed for his sake as much as yours. You're all he has left, you know. Shino is still in a coma, and Kiba is in denial. Now he keeps blaming you, no matter how many times Shizune tells him you couldn't have done anything more for him than she did. Shikamaru said I shouldn't tell you that, but I think you have a right to know. Asuma is doing really good, you should see him! He's getting so big, and he says he miss's you lots. Hinata wanted me to tell you to tell Neji that she needs him, and wants him to hurry up with this mission and come home. Lee's been going home to an empty bed lately as well. He won't admit it, but I don't think he believes Tenten's going to make it. Tell Genma I miss him, and –_here the handwriting changed, from Ino's elegant script to Shikamaru's scratchy drawl- _that he better keep his hand off my women. That goes for you as well, Sakura. We miss you, and the others, but Ino won't go to sleep so I'm cutting this short. Please write back quickly, she needs to hear from you._

_With all our love,_

_Ino and Shikamaru Nara_

* * *

"Sakura! We need you now! Our patient isn't responding!"

Sakura jumped up from her bed immediately and snatched her headset up off the ground where she had dropped it just two hours earlier. She was used to getting up on short notice and having to work on barely any sleep. It was kind of exciting, waking up form an exhausted and deep slumber, only to be thrown into emergency surgery or called in to remove poison, which was her specialty.

As she sprinted down the stairs to the lower level hospital wing of their mansion, Sakura set her headset up properly, responding to her earlier call with ease achieved only through her experience at the 'mansion'.

"I'm on my way, just keep him alive."

She pushed her way into the main room, ushering people out randomly. There were at least a dozen empty beds with stiff white sheets, but one held a dark haired man, writhing violently and fighting at the shinobi holding him down.

"Sakura! Oh thank Kami, I think he's having a heart attack!"

"Kaori, you weren't able to take care of him?" Sakura seemed perfectly level headed amid the sobs, screams, and chaos around her.

"No, I couldn't even keep him still! Neji, Tenten and Chouji heard me over the radio and came to help just before you got here." Kaori worked under Sakura, and was second in command of the medical team at the mansion.

"Okay, guys thanks for the help, but you can go, I've got this. Kaori, you stay, just in case."

With raised eyebrows and amused looks the three ANBU let go of the struggling, unconscious man and watched as Sakura blindly stuck a needle into his flailing arm while leaning back to pull a folder out of a filing cabinet. "He's not having a heart attack… he's having a seizure… hmm…"

She placed a delicate hand over the man's chest and began to carefully push her chakra into his system while flipping through his folder and humming quietly to herself.

"I wonder… yeah… he's… okay, lets kill him, then."

Her glowing hand retracted easily from his body and she slid a pair of kunai out of her leg holster from where it lay on a table, removed in her rush to get some sleep earlier that morning. It seemed her wish would once again go unfulfilled as she fought off her drowsiness.

Calmly slicing open his throat, she gave him time to bleed out before healing the wound and making a face at the bloody mess all over her table.

"Someone clean that, it smells," she said absently, referring to the body and waving her hand around the room at her teammates.

"Who was he?" Neji asked knowingly, motioning for her to follow him out of the medical room while Tenten and Kaori straitened up the mess and Chouji disposed of the actual body, carrying it down to the morgue to be examined later.

Sakura grimaced and scraped her tongue on the roof of her mouth, like she just tasted something bad. "Our prisoner."

Neji looked at her with an annoyed frown.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. He was some ANBU leader's son. That's why we took him prisoner. Genma was leading that raid though, so I guess you wouldn't know unless someone brought it up. We expected his 'daddy' to give up anything to get his son back, but apparently not. His dad called him a traitor for letting himself get caught, and the entire time he was locked up he had these nightmares of his dad killing his mom. I just thought I'd put the poor kid out of his misery."

Neji just shook his head. "We're not here for charity Sakura, you know that."

Sakura shrugged. "So? It's all I have left, knowing that I can save these people."

Neji stopped walking and looked at her for a moment. Sakura gazed back at him, not knowing what to expect.

"I know… you must miss them. "

"Always. But this – all of it – can sometimes make me forget. Forget that it was me, who tore us apart, forget that if I hadn't gotten in the way, that they could have had a real fight, not some by-chance accident that resulted in two peoples deaths."

"Is that what you think?"

"Yes. Because it's true."

Neji didn't respond, turning away from her to walk back to his room in the other direction.

* * *

Sakura sighed and rubbed at her eyes, pushing her glasses up on the back of her hand. It was around two, at least as far as she could tell by the moon, and she couldn't remember ever being as tired as she was now, after skipping sleep the night before in lieu of a quick scouting mission at one of the local bars. After realizing, several seconds after she heard the loud smack, that she had dropped her book on the cold linoleum, she decided she should get some sleep.

She'd been trying, in vain, for the past week to figure out a way to keep the medics alive in the heat of battle, without having them using all their chakra to defend themselves. The obvious, would be to assign them bodyguards, but the guard could be killed as well, and they really didn't have any ANBU they could spare.

"Shouldn't you be asleep, medic? Your orders, you know."

"As it so happens, I was just going to head upstairs, but shouldn't you be in bed as well, _captain?_" Sakura sat her glasses on top of the counter next to her and stood, stretching and making her back crack, the harsh sound echoing loudly in the quiet room.

"Hey, I _got_ sleep last night thank you very much, and you didn't. You're dead on your feet. Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

Genma offered her a hand, and she blearily looked at it, blinking slowly and yawning. "Carry me?" She asked sleepily, loving the soft warmth he radiated as she ignored his extended hand and leaned into him.

He laughed quietly, the sound reverberating through his chest and causing her to whine lightly at the vibration. "Alright, but I don't want Kakashi over here killing me."

"Ka-ka-shi?" She asked in a confused manor, carefully sounding out the syllables of his name as her voice stumbled over the sounds. Kakashi wasn't ever supposed to be near her again.

"Oh, yeah. He's really the jealous type, isn't he?"

"Um, no?"

Genma laughed at her. "I'm just joking Sakura, but obviously you're a little to tired to appreciate it. C'mon, I'll carry you up, just go to sleep."

* * *

"Mmm…?"

"_Waaaake upp_, Sakura-_chaaan_," Someone hummed in a singsong voice near her ear.

"Five more… min… utes…"

"I've given you five more minutes 6 times already Sakura. It's time for you to get up, you have some patients to look at, and some jounin with checkups that are long overdo. Like mine!"

She huffed into her pillow and groaned out a "fine! I'm up!" as she pushed her way out of Genma's bed (She'd have to ask him about that later), and past Tenten, just to fall flat on her ass again when she hit his doorframe. Utterly defeated, she just lay there miserably, drowning in her self pity at once again not getting enough sleep.

"Sakura, are you okay?"

"Great. Wonderful. Just magnificent, thanks for asking." With a groan she covered her eyes with her forearm, effectively blocking out the harsh light from the sun shinning brightly through a window that she believed really didn't belong there.

"Is that sarcasm I detect, Sakura-_chan?_"

"Wha- Kakashi?" Shielding her eyes with a hand she looked up at him and realized it hadn't been Tenten that woke her up like normal, but her old sensei. The one that was supposed to be back at Konoha. Far, far away from her. Feeling sorry for himself because all his students left him without a second thought.

"The one and only. I think. I hope."

"_Kakashi?_"

"Um, is that a question? I thought I already answered that… I'm a little drunk, I admit, but hearing things is just a little much… I normally only see hot pink fireflies." Was he on Acid?

Sakura interrupted his confession with one of her own. "I'm mad at you! Get out!"

"Why are you mad at me? I didn't do anything."

"_Exactly!_" She hissed, still on her back and virtually blind to her surroundings.

"I'm sorry?" he offered lamely.

"For?" she prompted, peeking out at him and glaring weakly. He couldn't help but notice that she looked sick.

He finally took a deep breath, and she raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry you lost them. I know how much Sasuke meant to you, and-"

"What. Did. You. Just. Say." She ground out between her teeth.

"Um… I'm sorry you lost them…?" he sounded like a frightened child, afraid of the belt in his mother's hand.

Her voice dripped venom. "After that."

"I know how much Sasuke meant to-"

"You know nothing, Kakashi-_sensei_. Sasuke meant nothing to me; it just took a while for me to realize it. Did you even go to his memorial?"

He looked shamefully at the floor somewhere near her ear. "No."

"I didn't think so. If you had, you would know that _I_ killed Sasuke. I didn't just loose him, I _murdered_ him. Naruto was the only one that ever gave a shit about me, and it was him that I lost that day."

"You ki- _what_?"

"You heard me," she growled, still shielding her eyes from the rising sun.

"Does the light hurt your eyes? I can close the window if you'd like."

"No, and don't change the subject! Or better yet, just leave!"

"Are _you_ drunk to, Sakura-chan? I think I'm starting a new trend." Oh, she was so not going to help him with his hangover the next day.

"Get. Out. _Now._"

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine. But you _will_ have talk to me later. Oh, and why are you in Genma's room?"

* * *

Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Scars

Chapter 2

The-Clinically-Insane

* * *

"Ohayo Sakura-chan. What are you up to today?"

Sakura sighed and glanced up from her clipboard. "I have about a dozen medicals to do. And one of them is Kakashi's. I can't even figure out why he's here after all this time. He really pisses me off sometimes." She slid gracefully form a counter top in the crowded dining room of the mansion, narrowly avoiding being pushed back into it by a fifteen year old boy. ANBU members were dangerous during breakfast, and she was small, so she _normally_ kept out of their way…

Although there was one time when she had woken up early and came into the kitchen during rush hour without realizing the mortal danger she had just put herself in. About a dozen ANBU about to go on the dawn patrol and the guards just coming in from the night shift were eating breakfast, and she was almost trampled when they realized that she was cooking _real_ eggs and bacon (for herself, of course), and not instant ramen or rice. Genma had saved her, but her breakfast had been lost.

"How long has it been since you last saw him?" Tenten asked, moving closer to lift herself up onto a table away from the men while Sakura leaned on the wall beside her, both watching with amusement as two guys fought over the last piece of toast. The sadest part was that it was burnt. Or _had_ been burnt, until someone dropped it in chocolate milk. "I thought he left the village when he heard about, oh, uh… Sasuke and Naruto."

Sakura smiled at her weak attempt to avoid the actual subject. She knew everyone walked on a sheet of glass around her, at least when it came to her old teammates, and this was _years_ later.

"He did. I haven't seen him in… I think about four years… before everything happened. I went on a mission with him for a week. Haven't talked or talked to him since, not even about them. I think he was scared of what I would be like." She took on a preoccupied, glazed look. Kami only knew what she was thinking.

"You know," She started optimistically. "I was really upset and I suppose he couldn't deal with what happened either. Sasuke and Naruto were like his sons, they were very close… well, I mean… oh, never mind. They were all Kakashi had, in any case."

"So you're excusing him for leaving you all alone?" Tenten asked in an astonished voice. She had subconsciously leaned forward, toward a shirtless jounin, and hadn't yet realized that she was about to fall on her face. Sakura wasn't going to be the one to tell her. She'd let the backstabbing bitch fall. She deserved much worse after cheating on Lee _and_ Neji, with the other, and then having the nerve to be mad at _them_ when they found out, because she had made both boys promise not to tell anyone. Sakura tried her best to stay out of all the drama.

"Of course not." She answered reproachfully. "Actually, when I saw him this morning I didn't even let him talk to me or explain things. Well, not really anyway. I kicked him out of my- uh, Genma's room."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Why were you…? Never mind. I don't want to... know? Neji? Why are you still in here?"

The Hyuuga had come wondering over, approaching his teammate and medic. "Tenten, you're going to fall, you know." The Hyuuga was very cold to the girl now. Sakura couldn't blame him.

Tenten huffed and turned her nose up at him dramatically, trying to scoot back on the table without Neji noticing. His smirk showed that he did.

"Sakura-san," he nodded respectfully, acknowledging, because they were in public, that she was his equal as the head medic. "I believe a certain Jounin is looking for you."

"Oh yeah? Who's that?" Sakura stuck her arm out and snagged a piece of bacon off of some guy's plate as he walked past. He sputtered and turned to protest before seeing Sakura. She winked at him and he smiled back, disregarding her thievery merely because she was Sakura. Even though she had no idea who _he_ was she was sure she had healed him at some point or another, and he certainly knew her. Everyone knew her.

"Hatake-san was asking for you during his -_our-_ breakfast an hour ago. Which you skipped. You're supposed to eat with the captains Sakura, not these filthy, skirt chasing ANBU. And you're not even really eating. You're going to starve."

"Spare me the lecture. I ate with Kaori in our room. She can cook quite well, I'll hope you know." Sakura retorted good naturedly.

Neji shook his head at her. "Medics," He teased lightly.

Sakura growled at him, but couldn't help but smile.

"Hey! Sakura, Neji! An ANBU member was just found outside of the gates! She's covered in blood but won't let Kaori near her. She says she needs to talk to you."

The two shinobi jumped, glancing towards the main staircase that led to the front doors. Two guards and an ANBU member running up them, guards looking angry, ANBU radiating desperation.

"Come to my room." Sakura told the young woman professionally, all hints of humor gone from her voice. a knee-jerk reaction to people covered in blood. You always take them seriously. Sakura led Neji along as they ran up another set of stairs to the hospital wing, bloody ANBU walking swiftly behind, with a slight limp. Tenten, always uninvited, trailed behind at a slower pace, knowing she wasn't actually allowed to follow them.

As they entered, the breathless ANBU bowed at Neji, her team captain -one of two stationed there, the other being Genma- and then turned to nod at Sakura, her medic, and the woman that had saved her life a hundred times over again. "Thank you for talking to me." She said gratefully. She had probably just lost her partner or teammate, was maybe his friend, or lover even. Neji and Genma were normally to busy to talk to the ANBU personally.

"Anko!" Sakura gasped as the ANBU pulled off her cracked mask. She fluttered helplessly around the older woman, looking for injuries, and frowned when she found none except for her ankle that was still healing form a past injury. She instinctively backed away, wondering whose blood it was… hadn't Anko been partnered with Chouji for their last mission…?

"Anko," Neji nodded to her. "What happened? Who did we lose?"

"We were on a stake out, Chouji and I. It was so freaking boring, and we had absolutely nothing to do…" She sounded guilty, as if making an excuse for doing something wrong. "…So we relaxed. He was captured. They attacked us, and two other teams apparently. I don't know which one's though, I only learned about those attacks because our guy was so damn talkative."

Neji glanced at Sakura, trying to communicate through his eyes. They seemed to say so much… "Be careful." He told her quietly.

She frowned. "Huh?"

Tenten sighed, answering for her ex-teammate. "Genma left early this morning, went for a quick solo. We sent Hana after him because he wasn't supposed to go alone. They should have returned… two hours ago?"

Neji nodded, still looking at Sakura.

"Hanabi and Sai went scouting, and Izumo and Kotetsu were checking up on some recent attacks on a nearby village."

Sakura closed her eyes briefly, before allowing them to flutter back open. "So that's four teams altogether, and they went after three, assuming that this guy wasn't lying." She turned on her heel and moved for the opening of the tent, calling over her shoulder carelessly, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

* * *

_Oh damn oh damn oh damn oh damn!_

They were right there! Three Akatsuki members. Now, this would be a wonderful rarity, had she been better prepared. Akatsuki never traveled in anything more than pairs, and since there were three, she found it pretty safe to assume the fourth was around somewhere. But how was Sakura, a little pink haired girl, supposed to take on three, possibly four, S-class criminals? At least, she hoped _they_ would think that.

Sakura was considered pretty tough, for a little pink haired girl, and she had to hope that they wouldn't know that. Underestimation was one of her advantages in battle. _Rule number one for Kunoichi's: Use this to your advantage at every given chance._

"Come on out, Darlin', we know you're there," one called out, and despite her hearing being the envy of several leaf shinobi, Sakura couldn't pinpoint the voice. She immediately found that strange, but didn't have time to think about it.

She was prepared to do whatever it took to get her friends back, and had been mentally preparing herself for this moment for the past four years. She was ready to confront the Akatsuki, even if it did result in her death. Not that she thought it would, if they wanted prisoners she was about as good as they came. Neji would do almost anything to get her back, and he was the only one left at the mansion with any command or positon.

Taking a deep breath she tooked the unknown males advise and stepped out into the open, pushing all her fears behind her, leaving her human emotions tangled up in the limbs of the tree she had been on.

One of them immediately snorted. _Underestimation, underestimation, underestimation. _Sakura's chant turned to laughter and rang in her own head, a sick, maniacal sound that would normally frighten her… But now it just made her stronger and surer of herself.

Cocky bastards.

"Come to get laid by an Akatsuki member?" He asked sarcastically. Sakura mentally rolled her eyes. _More like raped. _She recognized him as Kisame, Itachi's old partner. So was there really only three of them, or had Itachi been replaced?

"You wish, Sharky. I have reason to believe you have a few of my friends in your custody and I would like them back. I'm asking nicely for you to return them, _unharmed._"

A blonde Sakura knew to be Deidara choked back his laughter. She frowned. Hadn't he pulled some suicide-bomber trick to kill Gaara? _He should be dead!_ "I hope that wasn't a threat, Darlin', cause if it was it wasn't a very good one, yeah."

"Deidara says Tobi should back up his threats!" The last, orange-masked one chirped obliviously, leaning forward and cocking his head to the side as if he had asked a question. Somehow, he reminded Sakura of Naruto.

Sakura arched one pink eyebrow delicately. "Don't you believe that I can back it up?" Sakura hated guys like these, the men that always assumed they were better than everyone else. It seemed they never even considered the possibility that she could take them. Not that she _could_, but still.

"Would you like to try me? Only one at a time if that's all right. I want to preserve most of my chakra in case you guys did hurt my friends. I need to be able to heal them."

Kisame shook his head disbelievingly. "Tobi, I guess you can have her. I don't feel like playing around right now, and we need to find those Konoha freaks."

Sakura faked sarcastic suprise. "Really? You're looking at one, Sharky."

Deidara move closer, seeming to inspect her. "I don't see a headband." He remarked, challenging her to actually be telling the truth.

"Do I look _that_ stupid?" Sakura breathed out a quiet laugh, a real one this time. God, they were so careless they almost seemed naïve. "We would get caught if someone found out we had so many ninja staying at one place, and the other villages would try to kill us. No thanks, I prefer to go unnoticed."

"Well, let me see what you got," Deidara said, slipping directly in front of her, as graceful as a dancer.

Kisame made a 'you're-pissing-me-off' sound and growled, "Tobi can take care of her! We have to get going. If we don't find them, Leader's gonna have our heads!"

"What if she knows?" Deidara pointed out, moving that one visible baby blue eye to Kisame.

Sakura mentally reeled and her jaw dropped. Was he so arrogant that he would turn his back on his enemy?! Or… there was definitely something weird about his other eye, the one covered by his bangs… it was entirely possible that he could be watching her with that one eye. Maybe so that she would feel safe enough to attack him?

Slowly, it dawned on her. It was a trap! He turned away from her completely on purpose, expecting her to attack him… She wondered what would happen, but knew she couldn't risk it.

"The rest of them aren't talking, so she probably won't either." Kisame pointed out, sniggering in Sakura's direction. "Leaf ninja think their so important and noble, screaming out their loyalty to some country that doesn't give a shit about them."

Sakura licked her teeth, trying to rid herself of the bitter taste in her mouth. "Every member of our village is important in some way. You three are just oblivious to the way truly good people live. Do you _want_ to go to hell?"

Deidara turnd back to her and laughed. "Darlin', we're atheist. The world is hell."

Sakura sighed and shook her head sadly. She shouldn't pity them or the way they lived, but she was understanding by nature and couldn't help it. "The world is whatever you make it," She told them seriously. "I'm afraid you have chosen to make it hell on earth. Congratulations." Her voice dripped with suicidial sarcasm.

"What do you know about hell, little girl?" Kisame asked incredulously. "You're all innocence, and sugar, and laughter with no regrets."

Sakura sighed, a sound full of long term misery and defeat. "I'm not innocent in any sense of the word, most people tell me that my laughter sounds like a ghosts, and I have more regrets than you could ever know, most of them that would save or end more than a hundred people's lives." Suddenly her voice changed from its dreary depressed tone to a bright, happy little girl tone. "I do like sweet things though."

Deidara's tongue flicked out to the corner of his mouth, licking his lips like a snake. Sakura repressed a shiver. Knowing that he probably didn't even realize he did that, just creeped her out more. "So, Ghost, with the broken past and hundreds of regrets, what's your real name?"

Sakura dropped into a fighting stance, left leg out in front of her, right bent underneath her, and a long, thin dagger in her left hand. She knew she could take them on one at a time and live to tell the tale. He would probably live too though, but whatever.

"I can't remember."

Kisame grinned, shark like teeth flashing in the late morning sun. "I'd like to make you." He said deviously, reaching for Samehada, the blade slung carelessly over his back.

Deidara groaned. "We don't have time!" He seemed to remember, now that it wasn't him that would get to fight. "We have to find the leaf ninja before sunset _tonight_."

Tobi clapped his hands like a four year old, oblivious to the Akatsuki reputation that he was quickly diminishing. "Let's take her with us!"

Deidara, looking politely disintrested, just grunted and began examining the ground.

Kisame shrugged, apparently forgetting his earlier urge for violence. "Alright then, c'mon 'Ghost,' you're coming with us."

Sakura gave him a strange look, standing up to her full height, an impressive five foot nine. "What? Just like that, you're taking me with you?"

Kisame raised a light blue eyebrow. "Yeah? And if you help us out and don't fight back, we won't even make you our prisoner. We don't have the time to take care of you right now. Just come with us and we'll deal with you later."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "But it won't matter to me either way. Why don't I just cause you guys some trouble right here and now and get you in deep with your 'big bad boss'?"

Deidara laughed at the nickname. "Better not let him hear you calling him that."

"If you come with us you might have a chance to save your comrades. But hurry up and decide, because if you're coming we need to get going." Kisame looked at her impatiently.

"And if I don't come with you?" Sakura asked them.

"Then we'll be forced to sick Tobi on you," Deidara answered lightly. "While we go search for your 'friends,' of course."

Sakura knew what her choice would be. She'd have to follow to have any chance of saving Genma and the others. How they were captured so easily – none of the Akatsuki seemed to be injured – she had no idea, but she was pretty confident that she was stronger than her captain anyway.

"Okay," She answered slowly. "I guess this is best for everyone involved, so I'll come."

Kisame grinned evilly and Sakura immediately regretted her decision.

"What are- Heyy!" Kisame lifted her up by her collar and suddenly she could only see black, drifting out of unconsciousness much quicker than was normal with a head wound, and a sharp pain in the back of her head told her that that was exactly what it was.

* * *

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